Fitting brand name pre mounted heads - Newbie

[hebegbnz]

Hi there
Can anyone tell me if I can buy a Toca pre-mounted head to fit a Rhythm Tech conga? These are available locally for me.

I bought a set of congas for a good price in good condition, however the Quinto fibre skin head sounds like rubbish, is wafer thin and close to tearing.

I am some what restricted in choice in New Zealand for any flat skin heads and looks like I will have to go for a pre-mounted head i.e. I can't find anything else!

Also, measuring the head. I have conflicting information about how to measure the head. I am I correct that you measure from baring edge to baring edge and not from inside the rim? This would then equate to the widths listed in the Toca catalogue?

Am I on the right track?

Any help appreciated

Thanks in advance

[Anonimo]

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[BMac]

I recommend giving up on pre-mounted heads. Starting with a flat skin and forming the thing yourself gives you a perfect fit/form. Now I know you asked about pre-mounted heads ... but I've had a lot of trouble with them. The pre-mounted head must fit your drum precisely in two ways to get a perfect match.

1) The skin: The skin should be formed to match the bearing edge of your drum (the shell). This is to get a good sound. This issue is a bit flexible. The head can be soaked and reformed at the bearing edge. Just be sure not to soak the skin cinched around the flesh hoop or the thing will come apart and be ruined.

2) The hardware: The so-called "flesh hoop" with the skin wrapped around it should be retained by your hardware. So the skin-wrapped hoop has to slip between the downward ears without slipping through the main ring/band. It think some people call the ring/band with the ears a "crown." So there a tolerance issue here. This is basic mechanics. The main ring/band will pull down on the skin-wrapped hoop, so the hoop mustn't slip through. This issue is not very flexible or forgiving. The skin-wrapped hoop has to sit in the crown, surrounded by the ears, but it mustn't pass through the ring/band. And when I say "mustn't pass" ... I mean under tension.

I've purchased pre-formed heads with stock numbers on them that match the stock numbers on my old heads ... and still had trouble somewhere in the fitting. So I gave up on pre-formed heads long ago. Take the head off of your drum and look at all the parts. You're gonna have to do that much anyway. It may be easier than you think to start with a flat head and custom form it. You'll re-use the flesh-hoop in your old head (soak the whole thing for hours until soft and remove the hoop). So don't throw anything away.

Now if you insist on using pre-formed heads, your best bet is to go to a store where several samples are available. Try each one to find the best fit, remembering that the hardware fit is more critical than the skin fit. Even pre-formed skins having the same stock numbers on them can vary a bit. You found conflicting information on measuring the head? Of course you did. If you're buying synthetic skins, you're trying to match parts from one manufacturer (the head) to the parts of another manufacturer (the drum). Even the drum makers themselves goof this up a bit. Don't trust the part-time kids working at the music store. They're goofs that don't know what they're doing when it comes to congas. This ain't like buying tires. With tires, you just go get the right size (stamped on the tire) and everything works. Congas are trickier than that. Good Luck!

BMac

[hebegbnz]

Thanks for the advice!

I can see myself paying quite a bit of money for a pre-mounted head, to find that it won't fit.
Flat skin is definitely my preference, I might just have to "kill it & grill it" myself to get a skin.

Has anyone had trouble importing flat skins from the USA? I have a concern that our ministry of Agriculture may block raw hide imports.

Cheers

[Anonimo]

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